Structure
What is the main purpose of Paper 1?
To analyze how a writer uses language and stylistic choices to create meaning and achieve a purpose.
What term describes the author's deliberate selection of words?
Diction / word choice.
If you explain what happens in a text without discussing the author's choices, what are you primarily doing?
Summarizing.
What should your introduction establish about the text?
Its text type, audience/context when relevant, purpose, central idea, and overall argument/thesis.
What device compares two things using “like” or “as”?
Simile.
In Paper 1, what should you focus on besides what the text says?
How the text says it and why the author makes those choices.
What is connotation?
The ideas, feelings, or associations suggested by a word beyond its literal meaning.
Which is stronger analysis: “The author uses repetition” or “The author repeats ‘never’ to emphasize the speaker’s refusal”?
The second one.
What is the purpose of a topic sentence in a body paragraph?
To introduce the paragraph's main analytical point and connect it to the overall argument.
What device gives human qualities to non-human things?
Personification.
What are the three key questions you should ask about almost any authorial choice?
What is the choice? How does it work? Why is it effective/significant?
What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
Denotation is a word's literal meaning; connotation involves its associated meanings and feelings.
Complete this analytical chain: Choice → ______ → Meaning/Effect.
Effect/Function (or how the choice works).
Should your paragraphs simply follow the order in which features appear in the text?
Not necessarily. They should be organized around meaningful analytical ideas or authorial choices.
What is imagery?
Language that creates sensory or mental pictures and appeals to the reader's senses.
What should a strong thesis statement identify?
The text’s main purpose/meaning and the major authorial choices used to achieve it.
What does audience mean in textual analysis?
The intended group of readers/viewers the text is designed to influence or communicate with.
Why should you avoid retelling the text paragraph by paragraph?
Because Paper 1 rewards analysis of authorial choices, not plot/content summary.
What does a strong conclusion do?
Synthesizes the main analytical insights and reinforces how the author's choices achieve the overall purpose.
What is juxtaposition?
Placing contrasting ideas, images, characters, or elements close together to highlight differences or create meaning.
Why is simply identifying literary or stylistic devices not enough for Paper 1?
Because analysis must explain the effect and significance of the choices in relation to meaning, purpose, audience, and context.
A poster contains a very large slogan and a tiny paragraph of explanatory text. What could this contrast suggest?
The designer wants the slogan to immediately attract attention while making the detailed information secondary.
If something is placed in the center of an image, why might that matter?
Central placement can give it visual prominence and signal importance to the audience.
What is more sophisticated: organizing paragraphs around “metaphor,” “simile,” and “alliteration,” or organizing them around ideas such as “the construction of authority”?
Organizing around meaningful ideas/arguments, because techniques should support analysis rather than become a checklist.
Why might an author deliberately use irony?
To create contrast between appearance and reality, challenge expectations, create humor/tension, or communicate a deeper criticism or idea.